OAKLAND, Calif. -- Two days after being designated for assignment by the Oakland Athletics, outfielder Dustin Fowler was traded Wednesday to the Pittsburgh Pirates for cash.
He had been part of the club's 60-player pool last season but stayed at the alternate site and didn't play.
Fowler had been considered a possible center fielder of the future for the A's when Oakland acquired him from the Yankees at the 2017 trade deadline in a deal that sent right-hander Sonny Gray to New York.
Fowler arrived shortly after a freak injury in his major league debut on June 29, 2017. He was injured in the first inning and never even got a big league at-bat -- he had been on deck when the top of the first inning ended.
Then, running at full speed, the right fielder crashed into the low corner wall at Chicago's Guaranteed Rate Field while chasing Jose Abreu's two-out foul. Fowler ruptured the patellar tendon in his knee when it hit a metal box used for Wi-Fi, and he was carted off for immediate surgery to repair the damage and close the wound.
Fowler batted .224 with six home runs and 23 RBI in 69 games with the A's in 2018. The A's needed roster room for new closer Trevor Rosenthal.